Ottawa Senators news from around the web and my own sometimes naive thoughts.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Things We Want, and Some We Just Can't Have

Melnyk bidding for MLS in Ottawa, Sens PPV gone for this season at least, Schneider not an option due to his enormous cap hit and our spot in line, and everyone has a review of the new team.

Melnyk has every intention of trying to bring Major League Soccer to Ottawa, according to the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Senators' website. While the costs, $100 million for a stadium and $40 million in franchise fees, are steep, there is no lack of spirit that the MLS could find a receptive audience in Ottawa. The goal would be to build a 30,000 seat stadium capable of hosting an MLS team, a CFL team, and outdoor concerts, just southeast of Scotiabank Place on city land currently used to dump snow. It might just be the big push, thanks to Melnyk as a big sponsor, that gets everything rolling, rounding out the sporting schedule and selection in our capital. It will certainly be interesting to see if Ottawa can beat out eight others bidding for one of two franchises, including Montreal and Vancouver.

The Ottawa Sun has it that the Sens Pay-Per-View offerings will not trouble any more fans, due to cancellation. While I have heard some horror stories about Sens PPV, and on this very blog commented on an atrocious Caps broadcast that featured the Sens, seeing them disappear entirely will only isolate fans from their team, when they can't get tickets to a team that sold out 38 times last season, or when the game is one of the 41 not played in Ottawa.

The Ottawa Citizen doesn't see Murray making a move for Anaheim's Schneider, also mentioned in the previous Sun story. While the veteran defenseman would potentially fit the bill of a powerplay running defenseman, his cap hit of well over $5 million won't have him fit into our roster should we claim him off waivers, and should he come back on re-entry waivers, there are likely many teams who'd have first dibs on him at half salary. I've said it before, I'll say it again: we've got a defensively capable squad, with three solid defensive defensemen. If Hartsburg has it in him to split the three up, as Anaheim did successfully with its biggest blueliners, it will provide the perfect opportunity for our offensive defensemen to shine and to develop.

Everyone's thinking of the new look Senators as the season inches closer, with stories from TSN (featuring Heatley), the Ottawa Citizen (featuring Hartsburg and some core players), the Ottawa Senators' website (featuring Hartsburg, Murray, and some more core guys), the Ottawa Sun (featuring Garrioch's thoughts on the team), and the Ottawa Sun again (featuring Murray and Hartsburg). Thankfully, the repetitiveness of all the theorizing will soon come to an end, as Saturday marks the first exhibition game for the Sens, against the New York Rangers.